Four-time world champion Alain Prost thinks Ferrari must consider the "ambience" of the team when deciding whether to drop Kimi Raikkonen for 2017.
Raikkonen's future is once again uncertain with his contract set to expire at the end of the current season. The Finn has had a solid if unremarkable start to the current campaign and earned praise for moving over to let teammate Sebastian Vettel by in Baku, something Raikkonen said cost him time.
Though there are several candidates on the market, Raikkonen is seen as a safe choice for Ferrari and has a good relationship with Vettel. Prost, who drove for Ferrari in 1990 and 1991, thinks replacing the Finn could unsettle the Italian team.
"Everybody can see the positive points and the negative points," Prost said at the FIA Sport Conference. "There are one or two drivers on the market who could be quite good for Ferrari, maybe a little bit quicker, but you do not know.
"One thing you also have to take into consideration is the pressure at Ferrari. Sometimes you can see some very good drivers in an average team and, when they go to a top team, they do not perform the same because it is a little bit different."
Prost thinks it is clear who is number one and number two driver at Ferrari.
"The positive sign for him [Raikkonen] to stay is that he has a very good relation with Vettel and you have a number one and number two, not on paper, but in fact. For the ambience it is not bad. To be honest, I don't blame them [Ferrari] and I don't criticise. I am sure they are going to make the right decision."